


When All the Giants Fell

by Ash_Cassidy97



Category: The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: BAMF Darcy Lewis, Boxing, Bucky Barnes Recovering, Jewish Bucky Barnes, Multi, Physics, Protective Darcy Lewis, boxer Darcy Lewis, like that's it. they form a bond and darcy will kill hydra
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-13
Updated: 2018-03-13
Packaged: 2019-01-16 16:46:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 6,631
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12346626
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ash_Cassidy97/pseuds/Ash_Cassidy97
Summary: Darcy Lewis was pretty damn smart. There was a written exam for the position of Jane’s intern for Thor’s sake. She knows her shit okay? And that guy, yeah the one three seats away, wasn’t a student here. No fucking way. Not with his scraggly beard and slumped shoulders, and the stray dog who followed him around. He wore the same clothes every day, and she knew the look of the “washed it in a sink” routine from a two week stint in Texas with Jane.Not that she cared.The professor was a jagoff, barely knew physics.And that guy hung on every word, scratching out the equations with a pen. There was a nice five person wide ring that nobody crossed. And he looked like Bruce does on his Green Days, when the world needs to be a little less right now because he’s not large enough.Darcy tapped her pen. It wasn’t her problem. She packed up her stuff. It wasn’t. Damnit.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Here's the deal: responses mean I continue this. No responses mean I will continue this but probably abandon it somewhere down the line. It's all a hail mary for my works to be honest.
> 
> James is Jewish and he really liked school and boxing. And just jesus not everything revolves around Steve Rogers. That problem comes from Paul’s online math notes. I wasn't doing Latex so meh. Anybody who wants to tell me out to randomly insert Latex into AO3, feel free. Although why do you know that skill? Like why? The trapezoid thing was a problem I had, and trust me, you just. My professors, two of them working together didn’t get it. Yeah. Be a math major. I dare you.

Darcy Lewis was pretty damn smart. There was a written exam for the position of Jane’s intern for Thor’s sake. She knows her shit okay? And that guy, yeah the one three seats away, wasn’t a student here. No fucking way. Not with his scraggly beard and slumped shoulders, and the stray dog who followed him around. He wore the same clothes every day, and she knew the look of the “washed it in a sink” routine from a two week stint in Texas with Jane.

 

Not that she cared.

 

The professor was a jagoff, barely knew physics.

 

And that guy hung on every word, scratching out the equations with a pen. There was a nice five person wide ring that nobody crossed. And he looked like Bruce does on his Green Days, when the world needs to be a little less right now because he’s not large enough.

 

Darcy tapped her pen. It wasn’t her problem. She packed up her stuff. It wasn’t. Damnit.

 

“Hey, I like your dog, what’s her name?”

 

“Latka,” The guy said back, shouldering his bag. Latka stayed right next to his hip. Darcy dropped to her haunches, and stuck out a hand. Latka slowly moved and bumped her hand.

 

“Hey there,” Darcy murmured. Latka allowed her to scratch her head.

 

“I’m James,” the guy said.

 

“Darcy.” She didn’t look at his face. PTSD, she thought, and tried not to place James in a box like that again. “We should probably leave, there’s a chem class in here in five minutes.”

 

“Hmmm.”

 

“I’ll see you next Tuesday.”

 

Darcy left campus, heading back to the apartment. Jane was teaching at CalTech for the semester, and Darcy wanted to pick up a few classes to work on that degree. She’d switched to a double major in physics and polisci. Jane was so proud.

 

“Hey, how was class?” Jane asked, nudging the toaster like it would stop burning at that.

 

“Dr. Bow was off by 2000. He tried to walk that shit off.” Darcy gentled brushed Jane away from the fire and put it out with some water from the tap.

 

“Yeah?” Jane fanned the smoke out of the kitchen.

 

“Yeah. And you know my classmate? The guy with the dog?”

 

“Hmm.”

 

“Met him. Weird dude.”

 

“Yeah?” Jane asked, biting into the burnt poptart. Darcy jumped up on the counter.

 

“I think . . .he needs a little help.”

 

Darcy let the conversation fall back to Jane’s new science thing. She moaned about her classes and office. She helped Darcy with some diffieq notes. Darcy fell asleep watching the night sky. Thor did not return.

 

Next tuesday, she sat next to Latka, not looking at James. James stared at the curious woman. She brushed her hair back. Latka itched forward so she could lay on both James and Darcy’s feet.

 

Latka was some short-haired mutt. She looked better fed than James did. And she kept giving Darcy a look, like this is my human and he’s a moron. Darcy knew what to do with frazzled scientists who never learned how to hide very well. She didn’t flinch away from James’ stares.

 

“Hey, do you want a cup of coffee?” Darcy asked, packing up her things.

 

“Huh? No, I’m good thanks, darling.” James winced at his words. Dames don’t like that kinda talk these days. And it didn’t sound much like him.

 

Darcy snorted. “Come on. We know that assignment’s gonna be a bitch. It’ll go faster if we work at it together.”

 

“I’m not . . .I don’t-” Darcy frowned.

 

“I’m paying because I hate working through this bullshit on my own, alright? So the question is are you really going to turn down free coffee?”

 

“Fine,” James snapped. “It’s fucking expensive these days anyway.”

 

Darcy grinned. “Oh yeah?”

 

“Yeah!” He caught himself. “I-I served. They make better coffee in the army, and that’s a low standard, let me tell you.”

 

“Well, good thing we’re breaking into Jane’s office.”

 

“Huh?”

 

Darcy meandered off, letting James catch up. “She has this huge office because the university’s trying to keep her on, and silly them. Like Jane would be bribed with better digs.” Darcy unlocked Jane’s office using the key in the random flower pot by the door.

 

James watched as Darcy flipped the coffee machine into gear. She made it strong, dead strong like James knew Marines who thought it was too strong. He gulped it down, burning his tongue. Darcy grinned. Some guys just need a good cup of jo.

 

Darcy broke out her physics homework. First problem:

Solve the following IVP and find the interval of validity for the solution. 

y'=(3x^2+4x-4)/(2y-4) 

y(1)=3                                      

Thor know why they were going back over this bullshit. Darcy snarled under her breath and lodged a pencil behind her ear. She snapped a picture of the writing on the chalkboard and got to work.

 

“Are you sure we know how to do this?” James asked, giving the problem a dubious look.

 

“Hey now, it’s better than the damn trapezoid problem we had in Proofs today.” Darcy glared at the board. “Well, we’re going to eventually break out the quadratic formula.”

 

“No.”

 

“Ah, come on.”

 

“No.”

 

“But-”

 

“We are not using the quadratic formula.” Darcy snorted into their coffee.

 

Eventually they worked through most of their homework. James roped himself into walking Darcy home. Latka yipped at the two of them. Darcy howled with laughter as James bitched out a car who nearly ran them over. James grinned back.

 

“Hey, thank you,” he murmured.

 

“Oooooo, I got a thank you.” Darcy bumped him on the shoulder. “Maybe next time I won’t have to use physics as an excuse to hang out with you. As friends,” Darcy hastily added that last bit.

 

James bumped her back and chuckled. He saw her off. 

 

“Hey Jane, how long are we staying here?”

 

“Why?” the scientist asked as Darcy peered at her phone.

  
“Think I found James Barnes.” Jane thought dropping the  _ Science Bitches  _ mug was an appropriate response.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> James is Jewish and he really liked school and boxing. And just jesus not everything revolves around Steve Rogers. That problem comes from Paul’s online math notes. I wasn't doing Latex so meh. Anybody who wants to tell me out to randomly insert Latex into AO3, feel free. Although why do you know that skill? Like why? The trapezoid thing was a problem I had, and trust me, you just. My professors, two of them working together didn’t get it. Yeah. Be a math major. I dare you.


	2. Chapter 2

Darcy never brought up Steve Rogers. She met the man once. It was  . . .well . . . everybody wants to have sex with that man. It’s not a gender thing, it’s a that man is attractive from the inside out.

 

But that wasn’t James. Two months in, she knew enough to know that down to her bones.

 

James had a dirty mouth on him and firm opinions on Darcy’s boxing experience. You can’t forget that’s human, not the way you can with Steve sometimes, when you’re too dazed to know there’s a human in there.

 

“You know you might hit better without your hoodie on.” Darcy undid her wraps.

 

“I-I’m good.” Darcy looked up at that. “I was wounded in service.” He wasn’t looking at her, hunched shoulders, eyes on the ground.

 

“Hey, I don’t care, James.” She didn’t. Assassins don’t subject themselves to college classes. They don’t feed dogs biscuits and teach her to not drop her left. And this mattered. “You are more than a loss of limb. Wear the hoodie if you want but you are more than your pain.”

 

“Get hurt recently, love?”

 

And maybe something happened to Jane to make her go to a dead country. And maybe something happened to Darcy to make her follow her to the ends of the earth, to believe in the impossible. But that doesn’t matter.

 

“You know how you throw a punch and you know it will connect? In that moment, you’re certain? I think life’s a little like that. You can’t be thinking about the past while living in the present or some crap like that.”

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah. Come on, it’s not like aliens aren’t going to try to blow us up again.” James laughed, and Darcy threw him on his ass, having taken advantage of his distraction.

 

Darcy back off so she could swipe her phone off a stand and check her messages. James got back up slowly. Damn. Women these days ain’t changed much. He vaguely remembered how some carried bricks in their purses and had rules about flirting with scants.

 

Darcy whistled between her teeth. Sam Wilson. He sent her a text of Steve running with the message “what’s a polite way to tell a man to put a shirt back on???”

 

“I don’t know, Sam,” she muttered back as she zoomed in on those abs.

 

“See something you like, doll?” James asked, leaning over her shoulder. She jumped and elbowed him hard in the stomach.

 

“Not from you!”

 

“Yeah?” James asked, giving her a flirty glance up and down.

 

“Yeah.” Darcy didn’t blink. She didn’t fuck guys she knew nothing about, even if they were built.

 

“Oh.” James took a step back. Darcy caught his hand, trying to catch right before he ran away.

 

“Hey, Jane told me to invite you over tonight for dinner.”

 

“Really? This isn’t a pity invitation?”

 

“Nope. I always make too much mac and cheese, and you’re a good distraction from Jane’s boyfriend being across seas.”

 

“Jane’s dating a soldier?”

 

Darcy considered it for a blink of an eye. “Yeah.”

 

“And you think I’ll be a distraction from that?”

 

“Yep.” Darcy nodded, packing up her things. This was a good idea. James firmly disagreed.

 

So Darcy brought home a man still at war, if you want to be an English major about it. And Jane was still absent. Her heart was light years away, and there was a reason they were at CalTech.

 

“So, where are you living?” Jane asked, because Gods above, she was a scientist first.

 

“I-” James stumbled over his words.

 

“Yeah?” Jane asked, watching him from her cup of coffee. Darcy was doing something in the kitchen, probably keeping the place from burning down. Latka was keeping an eye on her.

 

“I haven’t found a place yet,” James said at last, because there are few ways to put I’m living in a dumpster in a nice fashion.

 

Jane smiled lightly. “I doubt that.” James raised his eyebrows. “We have a sofa couch. Darcy seems to like you. You can crash here until you find a place.”

 

And Jane. Jane was good at taking in strays. Darcy showed up in New Mexico looking, well, that’s a different story, but Jane had good hands with strays. See Thor.

 

“I’m fine,” James tried. Jane snorted lightly.

 

“I don’t doubt it,” she said kindly. “I don’t. But kindness makes the world go round, so crash on the couch for a few days.”

 

“Your boyfriend serves?”

 

“Huh? Yeah.” Jane nodded.

 

“He won’t like having a strange man in your home.” 

 

Jane snorted. Thor would take any man in, and Jane wasn’t blind. James, whoever he may have been, was a good man.

 

“Just. Stay the night, alright?” Finally, finally James gave in.

 

He stayed the night. It turned into two weeks. Darcy helped him get a job at the local gym. He taught classes and saved money. He never took his hoodie off, and he didn’t try to flirt with Darcy again. Most of the time Jane woke up with silent screams before he did.

 

Darcy didn’t dream anymore.

 

They all sat up with coco. Darcy pulled the quilt tight around her shoulders and leaned into James, looking out the window at the stars.

 

Thor came to earth on a windy morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> much less pleased with this chapter. but here ya go. i kinda hate birthdays and that's my vibe for this week.
> 
> James is Jewish and he really liked school and boxing. And just jesus not everything revolves around Steve Rogers. That problem comes from Paul’s online math notes. I wasn't doing Latex so meh. Anybody who wants to tell me out to randomly insert Latex into AO3, feel free. Although why do you know that skill? Like why? The trapezoid thing was a problem I had, and trust me, you just. My professors, two of them working together didn’t get it. Yeah. Be a math major. I dare you.


	3. Chapter 3

James tried to clear out immediately. Surprisingly (not really, Darcy had no such surprise), Thor and Jane were the ones to stop them.

 

“Nay, you must tell me about your travels!” Thor clapped the stranger on the shoulder. He’d hung his weapon next to Jane’s coat by the door. Darcy had rigged up interstellar communication enough to text Thor to wear Midgardian clothing. There’s something to be said about an alien trying hard to tuck himself inside a brownstone flat. There’s something more to be said that Jane and Darcy never want him to try to hide himself. “But first, I fear I must get changed!”

 

Thor, of all people, knew what it was to be hit by the dynamic duo of Jane and Darcy, and possibly dragged back into health.

 

Thor gripped Darcy’s shoulder as she passed, still in her pjs. She hugged him once before letting him go. She brushed her hair back and yawned. “Did he need to arrive back at 2am? He couldn’t wait for a decent hour of the morning?” she murmured, firing up the stove. James still had one foot out the door. “Hey, you’re helping me with the food. Get back over here! You know Jane can’t cook.”

 

They all ended up slumped around the kitchen table. Latka, the dog laid at their feet. Latkes, the dish, had gotten consumed between Thor stuffing his face, James eating like there was no tomorrow, and the women nibbling away. Darcy was slumped on Jane’s shoulder by the time Thor got around to speaking. Jane and Thor had the quilt, the old one with frayed edges, tucked around them.

 

“I didn’ catch your name,” Thor said to James.

 

“James, I’ll be out in a minute.”

 

“No you won’t,” Thor said firmly. “You’re dead on your feet, and any friend of Darcy’s is a friend of mine.”   
  


“But you don’t know me,” James said plaintively.

 

Thor snorted. “If you were untrustworthy, the formidable Darcy would have shocked you.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“I hit him with a taser when I met him,” Darcy explained, like this was an everyday occurrence for her. James fell just a little bit more.

 

“Yes, but I grazed him with the car,” Jane added. Hey, she can be proud as well.

 

“And that is why you shouldn’t run around New Mexico when there’s a storm happening,” Darcy bothered to explain. She dumped her dishes in the sink. “I’m gonna go to bed.”

 

The others followed suit.

 

James was woken by a weight tumbling on top of him. “The-?!”

 

“Sorry, sorry, didn’t want to turn a light on. I love them, I do, but I can’t take them banging Jane’s bed against our shared wall much more. Scooch over.”

 

She grabbed his arm and tossed it over her, hunching up against him. She froze for a second. His hand was metal. She shook it off and went to sleep.

 

And James laid awake for an incredibly short time before he passed back the fuck out. Latka curled up at their feet and huffed to herself. Goddamn humans are stupid.

 

Thor and James were the first to wake the next morning. They stared at the stove.

 

“Do you know?” James asked,thinking maybe Thor knew how to work the damn new stove. What the hell was wrong with good ol’ gas stoves? With matches?

 

“No.”

 

“Can’t be too difficult.” He managed it. Barely. Thor didn’t need to hold a fire extinguisher like a lifeline. James got pancakes heated up. “What branch are you?”

 

“Huh? Oh. I-”

 

“Not of Earth?” James asked casually, turning the fire down a little bit.

 

“No. And you are not a soldier of this time either.”

 

“No.” James got a better grip on the brightly colored spatula. It could work. It could if Thor got too close, not that he wanted to stab the guy with a bright orange spatula.

 

“Hmmm.” Thor didn’t move. He had a thousand years under his belt, enough to know better.

 

“Are we going to have a problem?”

 

“No. Any friend of Darcy’s is a friend of mine.”

 

“That simple, huh pal?” James's accent slipped a little, his voice getting tighter.

 

“Yes.” And to Thor, it was. Old soldiers never die, but whatever peace they find, they deserve it. And Thor, well, he had thousands of years of fighting before he met Jane. And Odin knew, James’ issues with Captain America didn’t come close to his own with Loki.

 

“I’m not a good man,” James tried.

 

“Hmm. Seems like you are. Does Jane have the actual syrup?” Thor went searching in the cabinets for it. “If you hurt my friends, then we will have a problem, James. Until then, I will be honored to call you a friend.”

 

“I think it’s above the sink. And .  . . thank you.”

 

Thor smiled.

 

And if this was a romantic novel, Darcy and James would go out on dates. If this was a romance novel, everything would be tied up nice and neat with a bow. Unfortunately, aliens. Evil aliens, not to be confused with nice aliens.

 

tbc.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> fucked up the spelling of Latka, the dog. Meant to be the pancakes. Too lazy to fix. Also goddamn love Thor. “yes yes I am the harmless alien.”


	4. Chapter 4

“I JUST WANTED PANCAKES!” Darcy roared, throwing an alien back out of her apartment. “With real maple syrup,” she added. Latka was biting another alien. James and Thor had gone out into the street to hold the fort down.

 

“Anybody call Sam yet?” Jane asked, wielding a broom with intent.

 

“No. And there’s a shotgun under the couch.”

 

“Darcy!”

 

“What?!”

 

“We-” she right crossed an alien in the face- “have a rule about weapons in the house!”

 

“Fight aliens. Then discussion about violence!”

 

Jane loaded the twelve gauge shotgun and blasted the aliens in the face.

 

“I thought we didn’t live in New York. Jesus.”

 

And eventually the Avengers came, and Darcy unfairly thought they showed up like saviors, like heroes from stories that Thor would tell.

 

Thor and James kicked ass in the streets below.

 

And it wasn’t Steve Rogers who caught sight of them. No, that would’ve been too cliched, Darcy would think later. It was Tony Stark. Maybe that was more cliched in a different way, in a horible, terrible way. Iron Man didn’t say anything during the fight.

 

Thor and James finally made it home after getting debriefed by police. James had a ski mask on his face to protect his identity, because you know, there are so many guys with those moves and a metal arm. James also covered up his arm, for the record.

 

“So that’s James Barnes,” Tony said to Jane. “Okay, okay, you’re harboring the Winter Soldier.”

 

“Nah,” Jane said calmly, washing the blood from her hands in her kitchen sink.

 

Her lover was the rightful king of Asgard, defender of the nine realms. She slapped Loki once with her moral hands, and brought Darkness to a halt with jumbled together technology. Tony Stark had nothing on her.

 

“Nah?”

 

“Nah.”

 

“What do you mean ‘Nah?’” Tony snapped.

 

“We’re harboring one of Darcy’s classmates until he gets his feet under him.”

 

“And that’s it?”

 

“Yeah, unless you want to argue with a shotgun, Stark,” Jane snapped back. It was leaning, propped up against her cabinets.

 

And bless Tony Stark because he backed right the fuck down. He lived with Pepper Potts. He knew better. “I’m good. Thanks.”

 

So James stayed.

 

He kept working at the gym.

 

“Hey,” James tried one night. “Do you want to you know, get dinner sometime?”

 

“Huh?” Darcy asked, staring at him.

 

James took a deep breath. “As like a date thing?”

 

“Huh.”

 

“What?” he asked defensively.

 

“No. It’s just that we’re doing this backwards. We’ve been sleeping in the same bed for several weeks.”

 

“Forget it,” he snapped.

 

“Hey, no, I’m all for going on a date. It’s just-”

 

“What?!”

 

“I thought you had a thing for Steve Rogers.”

 

“ . . .”

 

“Look, I can understand-”

 

“Why the hell do I need to be attracted to Steve?”

 

“ . . . “

 

James sighed. “I’m not, I don’t-” Darcy raised an eyebrow. James raised his head. “I know it’s okay to be gay, but I like people, not genders.”

 

“Okay.”

 

“And I want to go on a date with you, if you would be agreeable, and not out of pity.”

 

“No, I got that. Sorry I got things muddled. I would love to go on a date with you.”

 

“Okay.”

 

“Yeah?” Darcy asked.

 

“Yeah.”

 

James took her to the  _ The Complete Works of Williams Shakespeare (abridged) _ . They sat in the very front. James managed to execute the awkward arm drape over the back of her seat, and Darcy leaned all of her weight into him. He kissed her hair. She pulled him in for an actual kiss.

 

Jane grinned as they came back that night. James turned bright scarlet. Darcy fucking grinned like a cat who got the cream. James firmly slept on the ground next to the bed, some things you can’t get rid of.

 

The second date, Darcy planned. She took James to a MMA tournament. They ate popcorn, and she kept a grip on his hand the entire time. James always routed for the underdog of every fight, and grinned viciously when they won.

 

He kissed her tightly after. “Thank you.”

 

“Mmm?”

 

“For not shying away from me.”

 

“James, well-adjusted people don’t end up in New Mexico, hunting for magic.” She smiled at him gently. “I  _ like _ you, whoever you choose to be.”

 

“Mmm.” He kissed her again, like he was trying to hold on.

 

It was just as well. Steve Rogers planned the third date.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so apparently people tear down Jane to build Darcy up. Wtf. I am a proud supporter of James was the good influence in the Steve and Bucky craziness. also, I now know how to insert images from google docs into Overleaf LaTex. Yup. Also, this is your daily reminder to not major in math. jesus. Thank you guys so much for all the support!


	5. Chapter 5

Okay. Steve didn’t really plan the third date. He interrupted the third date. He crowded in on them at the movies.

 

They were all the way in the back, close to the exit, because James needed to be there. And Darcy needed to be there as well, at least a little bit.

 

So Steve slid into the seat next to her, and just gazed at James’ face like he was a lost cause and hope all at once. And Darcy nearly tased him because James kept his eyes on the screen, like he wasn’t a highly trained  _ person _ (they had that argument).

 

“Steve Rogers,” he said, offering his hand.

 

Darcy didn’t take it. “Sam?” she asked.

 

Steve shook his head. “Me actually, I can do recon, you know.”

 

“Right,” Darcy said calmly. James was gripping her hand tightly, jaw clenched shut. “Nice of you to stalk us then.”

 

“I’m sorry,” Steve said after a long pause. “I’m doing this wrong, and I’m stressing both of you, and I’m sorry.” He turned to go. Darcy caught his hand. 

 

“Stay. Don’t say anything. I’ll end you if you interrupt Harrison Ford.”

 

She leaned tightly into James, keeping hold of Steve. More people started to filter in. The theater had decided to hold a marathon for all the Indiana Jones films. She’d asked him, making sure he’d be okay with the Nazis. He gave her a look, and said they’d watch  _ Edge of Tomorrow _ next.

 

James didn’t baby his own issues, and he didn’t want anyone else to.

 

And Steve Rogers sat next to her all through the first movie. He held their spots while they went to get popcorn.

 

“Are you okay?” James asked as they stood in the popcorn line.

 

“Yeah. Angry at Rogers for turning up like he did. Mildly irritated that we won’t be irritated be making out later on the sofa. But it has been a new experience to get cock blocked by Captain America.” She leaned into, and swiftly beat him for paying for the popcorn.

 

“Okay,” James said.

 

“Are you okay?” she asked, “No, seriously.”

 

“Course I’m not.”

 

“Do you want to leave?”

 

“Hell no. I wanna see Indy get some and kick some ass.”

 

“Okay.”

 

And they looked like friends, sitting in a theater. Darcy was dressed in comfy jeans and a sun yellow blouse. James was dressed in jeans and a light pullover. He’d take being cold over anything. Steve was wearing an Iron Man shirt and a hat.

 

And Latka was laying against their feet.

 

And this wasn’t the greatest movie for Rogers. He kept wincing and Darcy tried to not care. But he stayed anyway, and Darcy got it. These guys, they were like Thor and Loki, they’d keep pulling each other out of the fire as many times as they needed without asking, without questioning.

 

And James never tried his hand (ha) at world domination.

 

So yeah, Darcy tried not caring and it failed.

 

“Do you want to get food?” she asked Rogers, watching him and James.

 

“Yeah. Sure.”

 

James kissed her cheek, but she didn’t look away from Steve. She was more than used to protecting hers, and Lord help Captain America if he tried anything. Rogers nodded hastily, because he learned something about female threats from Peggy.

 

Darcy Lewis looked like she’d beat him to death with her bare hands than let him hurt her boyfriend. He respected that.

 

They went to Joe’s dinner. Darcy stuck her fries in James’ shake, laughing at his glare. James’ filched her chicken in retaliation.

 

“So how’s the Big Apple?” Darcy asked, giving him an opening.

 

“It’s good. Aliens every other week, trying to kill everybody. I needed a break,” he said at last. “And Thor told me you went to the movies with your friend, I just-I needed a break.”

 

“Okay,” Darcy said. Because she got it. She did. People don’t run off to New Mexico to chase down aliens because they’re well adjusted people, and Darcy was good at making friends with the weird.

 

“Yeah?” Rogers asks, like Darcy could grant him salvation, like he was a tired old vet in a twenty-something body, and sometimes you’re just done.

 

“Course. Thor’s staying for a bit. I’m thinking about getting my own flat. You’re welcome to the couch.”

 

“Are you asking me to move in?” James asked, chasing her chicken across the table when she drags it back.

 

“Course I am, but it’s fine if you don’t want to. I talked it over with Jane. You can stay in her guestroom if you want. This isn’t . . . my relationship with you, is not contingent on you moving in with me.”

 

“Okay,” James said.

 

“And for now, we’re putting Rogers up on the couch.”

 

“Huh?” Rogers paused mid-shake slurping.

 

“Jane will be disappointed about that, having to put a national icon on the sofa, but I have seniority on the second bedroom, and honestly, you don’t wanna hear them going at it.”

 

“I don’t wanna hear them either,” James whinned.

 

“Too bad,” Darcy quipped back. James slept at the gym or on a classmate’s couch if he didn’t want to go near her.

 

“I can get a hotel,” Steve started shyly.

 

“Nope, you’re coming home with us. I’m not dealing with Thor’s Disappointed Face.”

 

And Jane probably should’ve expected this when Darcy came home with a man from the 1940s the first time round. She let Darcy cook dinner with James’ help, sitting up on the kitchen bar. Steve and Thor were talking shop in the next room.

 

“How was work?” Darcy asked her.

 

“It was good. I had a student forget that the gravity vector points down, but it turned out okay.” Jane sipped from her ever present cup of coffee. “You’re seriously going to move out?”

 

Darcy hadn’t. Not since New Mexico. Not since Culver dorms.

 

“Yeah.” Darcy shrugged, juggling the pasta. “Been thinking about it. Give you and Thor some space. The university’s been offering me a free place off campus like this. They really like you.”

 

“Hmm,” Jane said. “It’s only for a year though.”

 

“I know. I’ve thought more about finishing my degree.”

 

“Okay,” Jane said.

 

Because once Darcy showed up on her doorstep with a duffel bag and a passport. And they found aliens, but there had been months of research before then, grants drying up, and Darcy had sunk herself into math and physics, like she could block out the rest of the world. Jane could relate.

 

They were good at finding people. But it’s a learned trait.

 

“And Steve wants to be around James, and James wants the same thing. I don’t wanna be in the way of that.”

 

“Okay,” Jane repeated. “And you’re sure about living with James on your own?” Darcy gave her a look. “No, no I trust him. I just, I want to make sure you’re not pushing yourself.”

 

“I’m not. I’ve never trusted a man like this.” Darcy didn’t count Thor since Thor was a god.

 

And Jane remembers all the times in Asgard that Darcy couldn’t get two feet out the door. And they all got drunk in downtown with Sif daring them to drink mead. And they all learned that mead is not to be drunk lightly. And yeah, okay, Jane will give them a chance, the way Darcy gave Thor a chance.

 

“Okay. You know my number.”

 

And that was that.

 

Darcy got a perfectly pleasant flat via the university and everything went swimmingly, because Steve and James were rational folks. Not.

 

tbc.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let me clear here. Steve is not intentionally a dick. He’s not even a straight up dick. Sam Wilson just hasn’t had enough time to work through all Steve’s issues because Sam and Darcy are the only sane people in this, and that’s even pushing it. I love Darcy. I love Jane as well. And thank you, thank you guys so much for reviewing. Like that is entirely why I write. If there weren't people who read, I wouldn't write. So thank you.


	6. Chapter 6

Darcy swore heavily, and lurched out of the bed. James rolled over, tossing an arm at her shoulder. “Babe?” he asks, then he hears it. Somebody was crying softly, trying to be quiet.

 

“It’s okay, I got it.”

 

Steve was frozen up against the kitchen wall, shaking. He had a gun. Well, Jane has a gun, Darcy has a gun, James has a gun; why not the soldier riddled with PTSD? His hands were bone white, white knuckling it.

 

“Hey, Steve,” Darcy murmurs, sliding down the wall. She was wearing her hulk pjs and she’d forgotten her glasses on the table. Steve was still staring the room down, expecting return fire.

 

He freezes for a moment, but responds, “Hey, Darcy. Sorry.”

 

“It’s okay.”

 

“It’s not. Buck-James okay?”

 

“Yeah. He went back to sleep.” Bullshit. Darcy knew that James would still be awake until she came back to bed. Latka crawled forward and lapped at her hands. “Hey there. I’m gonna make some tea. You want some?”

 

“Yeah, thanks, I-” Darcy waved off whatever he was going to say. She put the kettle on. The kettle, because James was old school and he liked the routine of it.

 

It gives Steve a minute to peel himself off the wall and get back up. But he gets back up. 

 

“It’s okay,” Darcy says again. She bit her lip for a second. “I got a gun after Culver. I kept breaking it down and I couldn’t sleep. I took the job with Jane so I could be up at night.”

 

“Do you want to talk about it?” Steve asks.

 

Darcy shakes her head. “Not really. Do you want to talk about it?”

 

“I keep worrying that I’m going to hurt him by being here.” Latka laid across the soldier’s feet.

 

“Hmm. James knows his limits. And Steve, I would never invite you over if I didn’t know that.”

 

“Yeah?” he raised his eyes at her lack of bulk.

 

“Hey, I took down Thor, no problem.”

 

“So no worries then?” he mumbles.

 

“You’re welcome to stay here as long as you want. You’re not going to hurt James.”

 

“Okay.” She served him his cup of tea.

 

“Okay. I’m going to go bed. Wake me if you need anything.” She waits for his nod before leaving. She curls back in bed up against James.

 

“He okay?”

 

“No. But me not getting sleep won’t solve anything. I told him to get me if he needs anything.”

 

“Oh yeah, because that works so well,” James mutters. “You okay if-?” she nods. “Steven Grant Rogers, get your ass in here.”

 

Steve stands in the doorway. Latka leaps onto the bed. “I’m fine, really, I-”

 

“Get in the bed,” Darcy tells him. She squishes herself in between Steve and James. “You better not snore.”

 

Finals season hit. Steve taught himself how to cook, listening to jazz in Darcy’s kitchen while she and James lost their shit over physics. He learned to fry eggs while Darcy hung Christmas (“Winter Solstice” she corrected) lights in the kitchen. Finally, finally it was over.

 

Hanukkah started two days before finals were over, and James loyally lit the Menorah.

 

It was the third night of Hanukkah when James got a phone call. He murmurs a few words into the phone. Darcy is muttering about when the grading will come through.

 

“Hey,” James says softly. She looks up. “I have to go for a few weeks.”

 

“What?”

 

“Just for a few weeks. One of my guy’s-”

 

“You have guys?” Steve asks.

 

“Yeah. One of them got themselves into a spot of trouble, and I need to go help.”

 

“Okay,” Darcy says finally. “You be safe.”

 

He kisses her firmly. He grabs his bag and halfway out the door before he remembers something. “You take care of Stevie. I should be back before Christmas.”

 

“Winter Solstice,” she hollers after him.

 

“He has guys?” Steve asks dumbly, wanting to chase after him.

 

“Yeah. He was homeless for a time. He still looks after a bunch of them.”

 

“That why you bake more food than we need.” She nods. “That’s why you bought blankets last week.”

 

“I was ready to invite most of them here even. James is . . . he cares. A lot. He’ll be fine.”

 

“Yeah? You were ready to take in the homeless population of this city?”

 

“Course I was,” Darcy murmurs, putting her tea down. “Who do you think convinced Jane to bring Thor home, hmm?”

 

“Science did that.”

 

Darcy blinks. “Okay, okay. Science won that fight for me, but I was ready to step up.”

 

“I know,” Steve says. “You’re sure he doesn’t need my help?”

 

“Yeah. Honestly, James probably wants you here in case Hydra comes knocking.”

 

“Because I haven’t seen you throw him before.” And he smiles that smile, and Darcy-

 

“Yeah. And like there’s not several guns around the apartment.” Darcy rolls her eyes at him. “Honestly, he’ll be fine. He’ll text me when he actually finds out what happened to his guys. For now, I have to go see Jane.”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Yep. I’ll see you later.”

 

“It’s midnight.”

 

“Yeah. I remembered that I-I left something at the lab.”

 

“Darcy, what?!” but she was out the door.

 

Darcy took a cab over, thanking Thor that she remembered her keys and shoes. She walks around for a long time before she knocks.

 

“Hey, Darcy, what-”

 

“Hey, Jane, I just figure I’d stop by, see how you’re doing.”

 

“Uh, I’m doing well. Come on in. You realize that it’s 3am?”

 

“Yeah. Sorry. I should-oh. Hey, Thor.”

 

“It’s good to see you, Lady Darcy, even at an unusual hour.”

 

“Yes. Uh, important science things?” she attempts.

 

“Involving alcohol?”

 

“Involving a guy-I-” 

 

Jane stares at her friend when she stops talking. Jane sighs, and puts the kettle on. Darcy slumps at the table. Darcy groans into her hands. “I like James. I-maybe it’s the sad puppy thing?”

 

“It’s his ass isn’t it?” Jane accuses. “It’s Steve’s ass.”

 

“To be fair, it’s a magnificent ass,” Thor argues back. Darcy doesn’t bother to raise her head, well used their weirdness.

 

“I like James. I love him even. I’ve never-I’ve never wanted to cheat. I don’t want to now even.” Darcy looks up at Jane. “I don’t want to. I’m not going to but it’ll still be there.” Jane stops her bickering with Thor. She drapes the kitchen quilt over Darcy.

 

“You can talk with James when he gets back.”

 

“Darcy?” Steve stands in the open door of Jane’s.

 

“You heard all that?” she asks, not looking up from her hands.

 

“Yeah,” he admits. She looks up at that, never being one to run from a fight. “‘I’ll go. I’ll have my bags packed and leave tonight.”

 

“Steve, that’s not, that’s not necessary. This is me.”

 

“On Asgard,” Thor begins, “Triads are normal, to better support partners and raise children.”

  
  


Darcy holds up a hand. “That’s interesting, but we need to wait until James gets back before we think about discussing this.”

 

“Of course.”

 

“And you’re staying. I’m not going to be responsible for kicking out my boyfriend’s platonic, possibly more, soulmate.” Steve opens his mouth. “And whatever self-sacrificing bullshit you’re about to spew, don’t. I get enough of that from James to put up with it from you as well.”

 

“Yes, ma’am.”

 

“Thanks for the tea and support,” Darcy tells Jane, rising the mug out and sticking it in the sink. Jane doesn’t quit manage to hide her smirk from Darcy before hugging her friend bye.

 

The next day Darcy catches Steve coming out of the shower. In a towel. Darcy heartily swears and ducks into her room. It is a long thirteen days.

tbc

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'll be real. This was the end game from the start. Sorry for the lateness of updates right now. I had a computer die over break, and then school kicked up, and well, this chapter deserved more attention than I had at those times. Thank you for the wait. Thank you for all the reviews; they're the reason why I continue things. Seriously. Keep them up. I am so grateful for all the support! And happy birthday to Morbidcasanova. In 12 minutes.


	7. Chapter 7

James comes back on a Friday night. Good thing, he thinks, staring at the distance between Steve and Darcy, something was definitely up. Darcy kisses him on the cheek, but Steve won’t meet his eyes. Huh.

 

He raises an eyebrow at Darcy, but she shakes her head.

 

“They all okay?” Darcy asks instead.

 

“Course,” he tells her, wrapping his arm around her.

 

Eventually, Steve goes on a run, and he gets to ask questions.

 

“What happened when I was gone?”

 

Darcy does him the respect of not jerking him around, not that she has that in her. “I realized I found him attractive, he’s been hiding his attraction to the both of us, and we all felt guilty.”

 

James kisses her on the head. “Okay.”

 

“That’s it?”

 

“Steve’s ass. I can understand.”

 

She elbows him in the stomach hard. “That’s it?”

 

“Yes. You have thoughts about Steve. You’re dating me. That’s the difference here.”

 

Darcy leans in him hard. “Thor says that Asgardians form triadic relationship.”

 

“Okay. Is that something you want?”

 

Darcy blinks. “You’re not-”

 

“I like you. I want to be with you. You feel the same about me.” His conviction calmed her nerves.

 

“We like Steve thought, the both of us. It’s not just me thought, right?”

 

“No,” he says slowly, “it’s not just you.”

 

“So Asgardian customs worth a shot?” she asks flippantly.

 

“Only if we both want to.”

 

“I do.”

 

“I do too,” he says back.

 

“I do,” they hear from the other room.

 

James calmly sticks a hand through the doorway, and yanks Steve back into the room. Steve stumbles, landing on Darcy’s bed. James gives himself enough time to appreciate that’s where Steve belongs, before Steve bolts off the bed.

 

“Oh, no you don’t!” Darcy snaps, and drags Steve’s sorry ass back into the room. “We are going to have an adult conversation. Some of the parties are over fucking 100! We can have a goddamn conversation about sex and love and jesus, James, stop laughing!”

 

He doesn’t manage it until Darcy whacks him with a pillow. “Darce, babe, Steve and I never talk shit.”

 

“Well then, it’s a fucking good time to start!” she roars back.

 

“Uh, I’ll just go.” Steve attempts to leave again. James body blocks him.

 

“Sorry,” James says. “All three of us want to try this, right?”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“Steve?” James asks.

 

“Yes,” he bites out.

 

“Was that so fucking hard?”

 

“I mean it could be,” Darcy mutters.

 

“What?” James asks.

 

“What?” she asks back, but Steve turns bright red, and Darcy has found her new game.

 

“Only if you’re wet,” he murmurs back, eyes low.

 

“So that’s how it’s gonna be?” she snarks back with a smile.

 

“Wait, just so the assassin is clear on everything, we’re about to have sex?” James asks, 100% behind the possibility.

 

Darcy pulls him down on the bed.

 

___________________________________________________________________

 

They all lay in the bed after. “You okay?” Steve asks.

 

“Yeah, yeah,” Darcy says.

 

“Really?”

 

“Yeah. Yes.” Steve gives her a look. James doesn’t move from being curled up around her. “I-I had bad encounters with men in the past. Like  . . . hospital bad.” She pauses for a long moment. “That’s why I went to New Mexico, it’s how I met Jane, how I met you guys.”

 

“Is this a ‘I’m thankful for the awfulness?’” Steve asks.

 

“No. Not really. I just um. . . thank you.” They both are startled. “No, really. Thank you. Kinda funny that guys wanted by the government could redeem my faith in males.”

 

“And Thor.”

 

“True. But like Thor’s Thor, you know? And this is coming all wrong, and I sound like high schooler’s paper, but I’m glad I met you, both of you. To clarify.”

 

“Darcy?”

 

“Hmm.”

 

“Enjoy the afterglow.”

 

They do for once in their lives. They really, truly do enjoy the glow.

 

The end.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry guys for the lateness. I had a fair amount of personal shit going on. I don't really know what more I can add to this so ideas would be helpful. Thank you for all your support and reviews. It means more than I can say! I also write other stuff besides this.


End file.
